“No evidence” against Stefan Millar, in murder case, says defence 31/5/13
Liam Aitchsion’s family are suffering a “deep and painful loss” which nothing in
the trial could take away, said Stefan Millar’s defence QC in her closing speech
to a murder trial in Glasgow High Court yesterday afternoon.
Stefan Millar,22, of Carloway, Lewis, and Johnathan Mackinnon, 22, of Stornoway,
deny murdering the 16-year-old from Lochboisdale in a derelict house in Steinish
outside Stornoway.
Frances McMenamin said: “You would have to be made of stone not to feel anything
when you saw the photographs of that room in Steinish especially when the battered
and bloodied body of Liam Aitchison could still be seen.”
Ms McMenamin asked the jury to put aside any feelings of emotion, sympathy or any
sense of duty to find “someone to blame.”
“Even fi you say to yourself its all very suspicious, that will not do.”
A special defence notice lodged by Mr Millar at the start of the trial “does not
change for one second” that the Crown has to prove guilt, she said.
Mr Millar maintains his innocence and underwent three hours of police interviewing
without a solicitor by his own choice, she stated.
He gave evidence in court “even when not required” to do do and was “fully exposed
to very rigorous cross examination” by the prosecutor.”
Highlighting a number of witnesses who gave differing accounts at various times,
Ms McMenamin said “people get things wrong for a million reasons.”
The QC said witnesses from the Western Isles “spoke in soft, lilting accents” which
could make it more difficult for jury members to recognise if anyone was evasive
or lying.
From the time Liam walked out of his friend’s house to Johnathan Mackinnon’s house
“he was a missing person” - people didn’t hear form him again.
Liam was a “free spirit” with a lifestyle such that he “stayed wherever the fancy
took him.”
The teenager could have gone off for more drink after he left Stefan Millar and Mr
Mackinnon which could account for his high alcohol reading, she suggested.
She asked: “How do you know that Liam Aitchison hadn’t parted company with the two
accused and go off for more drink after he leaves them on Anderson Road?”
Nobody suggested they had a carryout on leaving Mr Mackinnon’s house in Plasterfield,
she highlighted yet Liam’s DNA was on the mouth of a bottle in the derelict house
where he died, she stated.
The prosecution’s stance that Liam had been sick in Johnathan Mackinnon’s bedroom
shortly before his death which the Crown said accounted for the dead teenager’s stomach
being empty was just one explanation.
“Again we have to get back to Liam Aitchsion’s lifestyle,” said Ms McMenamin.
The teenager, who depended on others for money, clothing and for food, may just not
have eaten food for a while before his death, she suggested.
The QC said there was no evidence which placed Stefan Millar “in that derelict house,
in that living room” in Steinish.
“Nothing suggests Stefan Millar participate din any way in an attack on Liam Aitchison,”
she added.
The QC said there is no DNA evidence, no forensic transfer, no fingerprints - “not
one piece of evidence within any of those circumstances that puts Stefan Millar at
that house, far less inside it.” she
Neither is there evidence to point to him “stabbing Liam Aitchison.”
The QC said there was “no basis whatsoever in evidence” of the prosecution’s suggestion
that Mr Millar stabbed Liam to “seal the pact” with Mr Mackinnon.
She warned the jury not to “start guessing or make up scenarios.”
There was no evidence to suggest Liam was “dragged to his doom,” nor that Mr Millar
was “even present when any attack was carried out.”
The QC stressed there was “no DNA, no fingerprints, no evidence” to show this attack
was carried out by more than one person.
There was “not a word” said by witnesses that “it needed more than one person for
the attack.”
There was simply nothing but “inference, suspicion, guesswork and wild theories,”
she added.
“You cannot speculate or take these factors into account in assessing if Stefan Millar
is guilty,” she said.
On the 23 November, Mr Millar showed “nothing but friendship to Liam Aitchison as
he did from the moment he met him.”
QC Frances McMenamin concluded: “”No verdict will bring Liam Aithcsion back.
You are not here to “avenge his death” nor to “do justice to someone who is dead,”
she said.
“You are here to do justice to the living,” she said as she requested a verdict of
acquittal for Mr Millar.
The trial continues.